Column: Colchester is courting business development

LINDA HODGE

Thursday

Jul 30, 2009 at 12:01 AMJul 30, 2009 at 1:04 PM

The question of “what are you doing about business development” has been asked of me several times over the past couple of weeks, so I thought I’d devote this week’s column to the highlights of what we’ve been doing and progress made over the past year and a half.

The question of “what are you doing about business development” has been asked of me several times over the past couple of weeks, so I thought I’d devote this week’s column to the highlights of what we’ve been doing and progress made over the past year and a half.

In order to facilitate the process for developers, our Planning & Zoning Department instituted pre-development meetings. At these meetings, developers and their staff meet with the town’s P&Z staff to discuss the project and everything needed to move forward in a timely, efficient manner. Once staff feels everything is in place, the developer then has a pre-development meeting with the Planning and Zoning Commission to discuss criteria that the commission has for the project. The goal is that once the developer has all of the information needed to submit the application, the process is facilitated and moves much quicker.

Adam Turner, our town planner, is the “shepherd” of all business development projects.

Not only does he meet with and assist developers interested in coming to Colchester, he seeks out businesses and developers in whom Colchester is interested. He works closely with Colchester’s Economic Development Commission, as well as the Southeastern Connecticut Enterprise Region (seCTer) to advertise the town to developers and potential businesses.

On the Web

Additionally, the Economic Development Commission, Turner, seCTer and I have been working to provide information about Colchester of interest to the developers online. I also am on the seCTer Board of Directors as a representative of the Southeastern Council of Governments and am able to gain information on what is happening both in the state and nationally.

Several major projects are moving forward. Stop & Shop will be expanding to provide two additional businesses; Settler’s Green, a mixed-use development with a substantial amount of commercial space, is working through the approval process with the Planning & Zoning Commission; several businesses have expressed great interest in the Galaxy Shops — we expect announcements from three to four; and we continue to work with a major developer to obtain needed permits from a variety of agencies so they can progress with their work. All of this accomplished despite these economic times.

At the same time, we strive to maintain our current businesses. As a result of the agricultural study completed this year, we are working with farmers to develop ways to help them maintain their businesses. A farm map of Colchester has been developed to help residents and visitors find and visit our farms.

Working with residents and businesses, a plan was developed for Lebanon Avenue and we continue to aggressively pursue avenues of funding. Economic Development Commission members, Turner and I are in the process of a door-to-door survey of our Main Street business owners to discuss ways to bring them together to enhance their businesses. We have also been working with the regional tourism board, as well as the casinos, to submit information about things to do in and around Colchester in order to attract visitors to our businesses.

Even in these economic times, Colchester is moving forward.

Linda Hodge is first
selectman.

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